Volkswagen Vento : Test Drive & Review

This is a discussion on Volkswagen Vento : Test Drive & Review within Official New Car Reviews, part of the Team-BHP Reviews category; Originally Posted by evilshantanu
Booked Vento Highline diesel !!!
Also checked on upgrading the fog lamps on the Trendline variant, ...

Also checked on upgrading the fog lamps on the Trendline variant, the dealer (Volkswagen Palace Cross, Bangalore) says that they would have to change the entire front grill, as well as the switches... This would cost approximately 20-25K. If they fog lamp upgrade is done through a VW dealer the warranty wont be void

Why has VW designed Vento in such a way as to change the entire front Grill to install a Fog Lamp. I am surprised by this reply from the dealer. I think he is taking you for a ride. Please check out other delears as well as check the car owners about this and then take appropriate decision.

Why has VW designed Vento in such a way as to change the entire front Grill to install a Fog Lamp. I am surprised by this reply from the dealer. I think he is taking you for a ride. Please check out other delears as well as check the car owners about this and then take appropriate decision.

I think it is possible to only get the fog lamps installed as well, but the issue is, in the highline variant we have a chrome lining, which is not there in the trendline, so if we just get the fog lamps installed it would look a little out of place. Obviously this is my opinion, he didnt say anything on this....

Please express your opinions on comparison between Vento Diesel / Honda City AT that I must consider before booking either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivekmohan83

Is there a specific reason you think Vento Petrol no good? I test drove both the ANHC AT and the Vento AT and performance wise didnt find anything major to seperate the two!

@vidyabhushan: with Vivek. In fact, I am in a similar situation as you: not a big fan of the ANHC and the diesel Vento has had so much praise directed its way that I really had to convince myself that the petrol version was worth it.

But in the end, I TDed all 3: the Vento diesel, Vento AT and ANHC AT and now I am reasonably comfortable with my final choice: the Vento AT. My reasoning is that with a 15,000 km service window and (inshallah) good German reliability, I won't have to deal with the VW A.S.S. much (and even then, in Mumbai-Pune I have a whole lot of them to choose from). More importantly, I *must* have an AT. Have been dreaming about it since I was a kid, my driving pattern (similar to yours, BTW) is ideally suited for it, and let's face it: my knees aren't geting any younger!

The biggest reason for hesitating is the running cost difference. But with an average of 1500 km/month, I did a rough savings calculation, which you may find helpful. Have assumed 70-75% ARAI mileage as actual and cost of petrol and diesel is ex-Pune. The % savings that diesel offers cannot compare to the petrol AT (since initial investment is almost same for these models there is no fixed cost to recover either). So the only thing to consider is the annual savings, plus of course any incremental maintenance costs that a diesel would require over a petrol AT.

In my case, all said and done, I *probably* wouldn't mind shelling out the extra moolah every year for the sheer comfort that a slush box offers (and savings in medical bills in future, perhaps!). In your case, you need to consider the additional cost of the ANHC AT as well, so you may find it a little easier to make the decision.

I have a query, people who have booked a Vento Diesel Highline in the past couple of weeks, how much waiting time is told by the dealer ?

Now that cannot be true, with Toyota Ethios on the verge of a launch in the same price range, though its a Petrol Car, VW cannot just let the early launch advantage slip out of their hands....

Well that is indeed true what the dealer has told you. The waiting period is anywhere between 4-5 months. Glance through the earlier posts.
I doubt Etios( if its only petrol) will hurt the Vento sales much as most of the Ventos sold/booked are expected to be the diesel variant.

Well that is indeed true what the dealer has told you. The waiting period is anywhere between 4-5 months. Glance through the earlier posts.
I doubt Etios( if its only petrol) will hurt the Vento sales much as most of the Ventos sold/booked are expected to be the diesel variant.

I agree it wont affect the Diesel Vento sales, but still the launch of Etios could have a significant impact. As all the people who are considering ANHC, could give Etios a thought.......

Etios is a hatchback if I am not mistaken. Its a different segment. Its going to be ANHC vs Vento only in the long run. Lets see who emerges as the winner. VW is surely going to lose a handful of customers due to the long waiting period.

Etios is a hatchback if I am not mistaken. Its a different segment. Its going to be ANHC vs Vento only in the long run. Lets see who emerges as the winner. VW is surely going to lose a handful of customers due to the long waiting period.

Etios has a hatchback as well as a Sedan version. Sedan variant would be the one which would launched first, followed by a petrol hatchback and finally a Diesel version of the Sedan variant.

Etios is a car which is designed and manufactured in Toyota's Bangalore plant and would be exported from here....

I got news from somebody in the R&D of Etios that for the sedan (petrol) version, the ARAI rating for the FE is 19.4 kmpl. The news is from a trustworthy source, now thats some serious competition

PS: i have already booked Vento Diesel, ready to wait for 4 months for this beauty!

Etios is a hatchback if I am not mistaken. Its a different segment. Its going to be ANHC vs Vento only in the long run. Lets see who emerges as the winner. VW is surely going to lose a handful of customers due to the long waiting period.

Etios will be both in the Hatch and the Sedan ersions, but no competition to Vento & ANHC as the sedan would be in competition to Dezire and the likes.

Also checked on upgrading the fog lamps on the Trendline variant, the dealer (Volkswagen Palace Cross, Bangalore) says that they would have to change the entire front grill, as well as the switches... This would cost approximately 20-25K. If they fog lamp upgrade is done through a VW dealer the warranty wont be void

I think they will have to remove the entire front bumper (with integrated grille) to put the fog-lamps in.

I realized this since some water went into the space between the fog-lamp and the bumper on my Polo and the water is still there.

Not sure if the light switch on the Trendline variant comes with the "lift to turn fog-lamps on function". If not they would have to change the knob too.

20-25K looks excessive, actually even half that amount would seem excessive, but I guess there is some amount of work involved.

But why would you want the fog-lamps in Bangalore? We hardly use the ones we have.

im holding my horses and booking the dark blue. will pay on diwali and get car in jan. no point hushing when there are no color choices at all. hopefully the brake issues should be sorted as well. i felt in the auto. when releasing the brake there is some slight noise coming ? whats that for any auto owners here yet ?

im holding my horses and booking the dark blue. will pay on diwali and get car in jan. no point hushing when there are no color choices at all. hopefully the brake issues should be sorted as well. i felt in the auto. when releasing the brake there is some slight noise coming ? whats that for any auto owners here yet ?

Have taken atleast 5-6 test drives for Vento Diesel before booking. Didnt experience any issue with braking. I would recommend that you test drive the vehicle at any other dealer. This is a basic thing, there shouldnt be any issue. As far as the fumes coming from the brakes (I read in one of the posts), I guess that should be one of the special cases.....

im holding my horses and booking the dark blue. will pay on diwali and get car in jan. no point hushing when there are no color choices at all. hopefully the brake issues should be sorted as well. i felt in the auto. when releasing the brake there is some slight noise coming ? whats that for any auto owners here yet ?

Yes I observed this as well in the AT TD vehicle at VW Pune. The sales rep was clueless, so didn't push it. One thing that strikes me is that I had depressed the brake pedal fully, a la a clutch in manual tranny car. I have driven ATs before but don't recall this being a problem. Releasing th brake after a full depress definitely gave the noise you are talking about. Seasoned AT owners please comment.

Yes I observed this as well in the AT TD vehicle at VW Pune. The sales rep was clueless, so didn't push it. One thing that strikes me is that I had depressed the brake pedal fully, a la a clutch in manual tranny car. I have driven ATs before but don't recall this being a problem. Releasing th brake after a full depress definitely gave the noise you are talking about. Seasoned AT owners please comment.

in manuals both dont have noise only in autobox i heard this noise. its kind of annoying lets see should be a minor problem i guess.